


boys and boys and girls and girls

by colazitron



Series: 2018 December Holiday Fic Countdown [3]
Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 13:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16833676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: Noora meets a handsome boy at the Christmas market one day, but all is not she may have originally thought.





	boys and boys and girls and girls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vesperthine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vesperthine/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** I am in no way affiliated with these characters or their creators. I made this all up and am sharing it only for fun.
> 
>  **A/N:** This is for Vesper who asked for Noora and Even going on a date but ending up as friends.
> 
> It also fills the evakteket skamenger hunt prompt "mittens/hats/scarves".

Noora's really just browsing when she catches sight of the pair of mittens.

They're adorable, truthfully. A soft, creamy white with a pink and silver pattern stitched into the back of them. Eskild would absolutely love them, so Noora shoulders her way through the crowds and reaches out for them.

At the same time, so does someone else, and Noora's gloved fingers bump into the bare ones of a stranger.

A very handsome stranger, when she follows the dark blue and soft brown pattern of his jacket sleeve up to his face. He's smiling at Noora, and his blue eyes twinkle even in the low light of the Christmas market.

“Hi,” he says, his voice pleasantly low and perfectly jovial.

“Hi,” she says back and finds herself smiling at him.

“How badly do you want those mittens?” he asks. “Because if it's very badly, I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you have them.”

Noora giggles a little and then shrugs.

“I don't know. How badly do you want them?” she asks back.

The stranger takes his hands off the mittens and holds them up for her to see. Now that she's looking, she clocks the cold-bitten red of his skin.

“About this badly,” he says. “I forgot mine at home and the pockets of my jacket aren't as warm as I'd hoped.”

Noora holds her own hands up in surrender.

“Then they're yours. I just thought they'd make a cute gift for my roommate,” she explains.

The stranger beams at her – wow, he really is _very_ pretty – and then takes the mittens.

“Thank you so much. You're saving me from a world of pain,” he says and then holds out one of his still mitten-less hands.

“I'm Even, by the way.”

Noora tilts her head a little and takes his hand, smiling up at him. Very pretty and very tall.

“Noora.”

Even nods and then lets go of her hand – dare she think it? – a little reluctantly.

“Have you ever seen the film 'Serendipity', Noora?” he asks and then turns to the woman in the stall to pay for the mittens.

Noora has no idea what he's talking about and she's not sure she should linger, cute though he is, but she hovers by his side anyway.

“No, I haven't,” she says. “Why?”

“Well-- okay, so this is a bit silly, but it starts with these two people, Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack, wanting to buy the same pair of gloves,” he says.

Noora feels her eyes go wide and her belly flutter with butterflies.

“They split the gloves, one for each of them, and leave it up to fate to reunite the gloves, and them. It does, in a way, but it gets very convoluted before they get a happy ending.”

Noora stares up at him and swallows.

Even looks a little sheepish, but he slips both mittens on.

“I really need these mittens, but – I don't know. Would you like to get some coffee with me?”

Noora should probably not agree to go have coffee with random strangers just because they also happen to be handsome. But Even is _very_ handsome and coffee is public. She can text her friends where they are and if he gets weird, she's sure Eskild or Isak will come pick her up. They're out this afternoon too, she thinks.

So…

“Yeah,” she says. “I'd like that.”

Even beams.

“Really? Wow.”

He laughs a little.

“That's great. There's a nice café over on the other side of the market? We could go there?”

“Sure,” Noora says and then pull out her phone, taking her glove off to send a quick message to the flatmates group chat and then also to Eva, just because.

She can see Eskild typing a response already, but she doesn't wait to find out what it is, just puts her phone back into her purse and turns to smile at Even. He smiles back at her and doesn't ask her anything about the phone. Instead he makes sure to weave an easy and slow path through the crowd, shortening the strides of his long legs so she can keep up easily.

At the café he holds open the door for her and then helps her out of her coat inside.

Noora already wants to keep him, excited and giddy off of ten minutes of acquaintance.

They get coffees and pastries and Even tells her about the film classes he's taking at Westerdals. In return, Noora tells him about the job she recently started at an art gallery. The conversation moves from there to childhood pets and favourite meals, to cooking mishaps and why Even keeps forgetting his mittens places. From there back to movies and to poetry and to a memory or two of school time, and the whole while Noora doesn't stop smiling.

Even is sweet, and charmingly funny in a very dorky way.

When he asks if he can see her again after two hours when he has to leave, Noora doesn't hesitate to agree and give him her phone number.

She sees him again two days later, at another cosy café, huddled onto a small two-seater sofa in the very back, holding her large mug of tea close while he shares an anecdote about his friends. They touch on the subject of an ex-girlfriend, and Noora finds herself listening intently to the way he talks about how towards the end he always felt controlled by her.

“Like everything you say gets twisted and you can't quite figure out why,” she says.

“Yes!” he agrees, eyes lighting up.

“And you know they're wrong but you can't work out what it is that they did in the moment and they use that as an opportunity to say it proves you wrong.”

“Exactly like that,” he agrees, eyes a little wide as he looks at her. “I started doubting my feelings all the time--”

“Like you had to run them by her to be sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Noora agrees. “I had a boyfriend like that too. He was… bad news. We were always fighting and I knew that he was kind of a dick before we even got together, but sometimes he was so sweet, you know?”

Even hums in agreement.

“And he was smart too. Not eveything he did was always bad. But we just weren't good together. It took me ages to realise that,” she says.

“It's always hard. Sometimes it's not really either one of you, it's just that the combination stops working. Or doesn't ever work in the first place,” he agrees and then takes a sip from his own mug.

Noora nods and then reaches over to grab one of the cookies they got.

“Yeah,” she says. “That's what it was. He can maybe be good with someone else, but...”

“Not with you.”

“No. Not with me,” Noora agrees.

Even smiles, and when he brings his leg up underneath him onto the sofa so their knees touch, Noora smiles back.

They see each other five more times in the next two weeks, most often in that café with the cosy sofa in the back.

Each time, Noora finds herself talking and laughing about things she never really talks about. It's not that she brings them up on purpose, but talking to Even is easy in a way she hasn't experienced in a long time. Since Eva, probably.

Eva is also something she doesn't usually talk about, but that she finds herself coming back to time and time again with Even.

Meeting Eva was a revelation to Noora when she was sixteen. She didn't know she could ever feel so at home with another girl. Eva was beautiful, and fun, but she was also flawed, and vulnerable, and she let Noora into her life and heart without any kind of compunction.

She was the first girl Noora never thought to compare herself too. She never looked at Eva and thought “I wish I looked like that, I wish I could be that pretty”. All she could ever think when looking at Eva was “Wow. I'm so glad I get to be her friend.”

Even sighs and nods and then pulls a grimace.

“Yeah, I've been in love with my best friend before too,” he says.

Noora stops short, mug hovering halfway up to her mouth, her eyes wide.

“Um, what?”

Even blinks and then his entire face falls into an apologetic grimace.

“Oh god, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have assumed. I just thought-- with the way you talk about her--”

“No, it's fine, I just thought--- aren't we on a date?”

Even shrugs, which isn't exactly the answer Noora was looking for.

“Are we?” Even asks.

For the first time in a while he seems unsure.

Noora sets her mug back down on the table next to them and then takes a moment to look at Even and think it over herself.

Are they on a date?

This has all the trappings of a date, but then this is also exactly what she might do with Eva – or any of her other friends. And she likes Even, sure. They get along well, and the way Even makes a concerted effort to listen to her and understand her is wonderful. And he's still one of the most handsome guys she's ever met.

But.

Those butterflies from their first meeting, the excitement and the electricity that felt like potential… it's gone.

She didn't really notice because she was having so much fun hanging out with him, but that's just it, isn't it. They're not on a date. They're hanging out.

“Maybe not,” she concedes.

“I don't want to hurt you, Noora. You're a really great girl. But I think maybe we'd be better off as friends?” he suggests.

Noora doesn't even feel sad when he says it.

“Yeah. Of course,” she says and then opens her arms to him. “Hug?”

He beams and leans forward, collects her into his arms and squeezes her tight before letting go again and sinking against the backrest of what is basically their sofa now, in Noora's mind.

“So. Eva?” he asks. “Are you… sure?”

Noora grabs her mug and takes a large gulp to avoid answering. Even laughs and lets her get away with it.

Turns out she's not sure. It takes only a week and a particularly twinkly set of Christmas lights reflected in Eva's shining eyes for Noora's heart to skip a very significant beat. The next moment she gets, she whips out her phone and texts Even a frantic “fuck you were right!!”. Even laughs at her over text, but then also sends her a string of thumbs up emojis, so she supposes she can forgive him for it.

“So, when do I get to meet the illustrious Eva?” he asks one afternoon they're huddled together on their sofa again.

“Do you want to meet her?” Noora asks.

“Would I be asking if I didn't? I want to meet this girl who has you so captivated!” Even insists.

Noora supposes she's kept Even all to herself for long enough. Vilde keeps asking if she's sure they're not going out, and Eskild keeps telling her she should just sleep with him anyway if he's as handsome as she claims.

“We're going ice skating on the weekend,” she says. “You could come?”

“Really? Yeah, I'd love to. I haven't been ice skating in ages, but it's like riding a bike, right?”

Noora shrugs.

“Sure,” she says. “If you fall down, I promise I'll only take one picture before helping you up.”

Even laughs delightedly and then holds out his hand for a handshake to seal the deal.

Eskild is appropriately excited to meet Even but then cancels last minute due to a tinder hookup that'll at least “definitely get him blown; you still haven't shown me a picture of this Even, so how am I supposed to know if he's worth it?”. Isak shakes his head in the background and takes Eva's skates from her so she can put her coat on. Linn has come down with a cold, and Chris, Vilde, Sana, and the other boys get the ice rinks mixed up, so by the time they get there, it's only the three of them – Noora, Eva, and Isak.

And Even, who's already waiting for them on one of the benches, doing up the laces of his ice skates.

He gets up and beams at them and hugs Noora hello before turning to Eva.

“Eva,” she says, with the kind of grin that lets Noora know she's going to tell Eskild that Noora did not exaggerate Even's handsomeness. “I've heard a lot about you.”

Even laughs.

“Likewise,” he grins and then turns to Isak.

“Isak,” Isak introduces himself, and Noora watches Even's eyes practically glaze over and his cheeks redden a little. Maybe not enough so that Isak will notice, but certainly enough so that Noora will tease him about it later.

“Hi,” Even says. “I haven't heard a lot about you.”

Noora bites down her grin, reading the accusation in Even's quick glance at her loud and clear.

Isak huffs a laugh.

“I'm just a roommate,” he says.

“Oh. Were these meant for you, then?” Even asks and lifts his hands, showing off the white, pink, and silver mittens from when he and Noora first met.

Isak wrinkles his nose and Eva barks a laugh.

“I hope not,” Isak says, and turns to Noora to confirm it before he seems to realise what he just said. “Not that--- they're very cute.”

Eva elbows Noora in the side when Even beams back at Isak like it's the compliment of the century and jerks her head over to the side.

“I feel like we should leave them to it,” she whispers.

Neither Even nor Isak seem to notice when they do leave, so Eva's probably right and, honestly, this couldn't have gone better if Noora had planned for it.

“Eskild's going to be quite jealous,” Eva muses when Isak takes Even's mittened hands in his and leads him out onto the ice, pulling him along while skating effortlessly backwards.

Noora laughs and then gets up, takes a deep breath and holds out her own hand to Eva. She doesn't think she can fully lay it all on the table yet, risk everything between them and her wildly beating heart by opening a door to a possibility that might never be realised. But until then, this is good too. Maybe she just needs to inch closer to the door and give it a little nudge instead of blowing it open with only one move.

“Coming?” she asks.

Eva grins at her and puts her hand in Noora's.

“Definitely,” Eva says.

She doesn't need it, but she doesn't let go of Noora's hand.

**The End**


End file.
